What If? Vineyard Style
by HowIsTheDRAMAQUEEN
Summary: Epsiode 6.15: Lorelai and Luke talk about engagement. "You don't plan an elopement, you just do it!" But what if they did 'just do it' Talk of a what-if series in the works... BTW Don't own GG or anything else mentioned.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so I had this idea when I was watching episode 6.15 (A Vineyard Valentine) and all of a sudden where she says "You just do it." I screamed, "DO IT NOW!" So, I figured what IF they decided to do it then? (FYI, there are more chapters coming.) The first few lines are verbatim.**

"What?" Lorelai asked brilliantly, not quite sure she had heard her fiancé correctly.

"Eloping," Luke repeated. "We could do that, right? Instead of planning this whole big thing?"

Lorelai grinned at the rare side of Luke. "I don't know," she said, thinking it over. "Maybe." Suddenly, she gasped. "But Rory has to come! Is it still eloping if Rory comes?" she asked, her rapid-fire words back.

"Sure, why not?" Luke replied, glad she was out of the mood she had been in. "Let's start planning it."

"You don't plan an elopement, you just do it!" Lorelai chastised playfully.

"Oh, right. That makes sense," he reflected thoughtfully. His head raced. _We could do it here_, he thought, _when the weather is warmer. We'd come back here. It'd be fun. We may even get in June 3, like she wanted. _Then it hit him.

"It's Valentine's weekend," he said, looking up at Lorelai.

"Yes, it is. Glad to know your mental calendar is working."

"It's almost Valentine's Day."

"Yes, that is coming up soon."

"Valentine's Day is supposed to be the most romantic day of the year."

"Oh, I always thought that was Veteran's Day."

"Why don't we get married now? We're here. Rory's here. We could do it right now," Luke suggested, pleased he had come up with such a good solution.

"What about... well, wouldn't you want… I thought you needed time to process the whole…April thing," Lorelai finished lamely.

"But she's not here. It's not like we're trying to plan a wedding while I try and figure out the situation. I pretty much have the situation figured out, it's just getting used to her being around at this point. And we're here, we could get married today. In fact, let's get married. Today," he finished conclusively.

"Well…" Lorelai considered the benefits. They would be married. It would be easy. Her mother wouldn't be there. Her daughter would. But, oh, God, her mother. Emily would kill Lorelai if she eloped. But…would it really matter? A grin spread across her face slowly. "Okay," she decided aloud, looking up at Luke, who had risen during their discussion.

"Okay?" he asked.

"Okay," she repeated firmly. "Unless you've already changed your mind. Oh, God, you changed your mind. How did you already change your mind? I thought I was doing it right. Oh, God, Rory will kill me. Does this mean no more-"

"Lorelai," Luke said firmly, cutting her off. "I haven't changed my mind. I just want to be sure you want to do this."

"I do. I really do," she said, gazing up at him with a smile. "And we're halfway there anyway, right?"

"Yeah," he agreed. "Yeah, we are. We're halfway there."

"So…we're getting married," Lorelai said slowly, incredulously.

"We're…getting married," Luke repeated.

"Oh, my God!" Lorelai cried, slicing through the silence.

"What? What?" Luke asked, worried.

"We're getting MARRIED! TODAY!" Lorelai screamed.

"Well, we don't' have to worry about telling Rory now," Luke joked.

"Luke! We need to prepare for a wedding!"

"Okay," Luke told her calmly, crouching before her, his hands on her arms. "Breathe now. Breathing? Good. Now, first we need to…"

"Tell Rory."

"Alright. We'll tell Rory. Let's go tell Rory."

"Yeah, let's tell Rory."

Luke rose to his feet, and offered Lorelai his hand. She took it, rose, and pressed a quick kiss to his lips before allowing herself to be led from the room.

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Out in the main part of the house, Rory and Logan were eating a casual breakfast.

"So, Ace, how's that article you're reading?" Logan asked with his trademark smirk. His girlfriend had beaten him to the paper this morning, and he was paying the price.

"It's good, thanks," she replied without looking up. A noisy sigh provoked her to look up. "Oh, did you want the paper?" she asked innocently.

"Oh, not if you're not done with it," he replied sarcastically.

She laughed and handed him the paper. "I've been done for the last five minutes; I just wanted to see how long you could last."

"Ouch, Ace, you're cruel!" Logan commented through laughter, snatching the paper away. Rory laughed, and he leaned over the counter to kiss the smirk off her face. "I'm a bad influence on you," he joked.

"Absolutely," she agreed with a grin, just before Lorelai and Luke burst through the door to the kitchen.

"Hey, Mom," Rory greeted a breathless Lorelai. "The house isn't that big. What'd you do, run laps? Wait, if it's dirty, keep it to yourselves, please."

"Lorelai, Luke, good morning," Logan said, his voice smooth and pleasant. "Would you like to sit down and maybe catch your breath?"

"Nuh-uh," Lorelai gasped, shaking her head violently to make sure eh got the message. "No sit. Can't sit."

"Mom!" Rory cried. "Breathe!"

"Right. Breathe. Forgot about that," Lorelai replied in between deep breaths.

"What's going on?" Rory asked, concerned for her mother and her stepfather-to-be.

"Your mother and I…" Luke began calmly, only to be cut off by Lorelai.

"We're getting married!"

"I knew that," Rory laughed. "What's up now?"

"No, we're getting married here. This weekend!" Lorelai cried.

"Oh, my God!" Rory screamed. "You're getting married?!"

"TODAY!" Lorelai screamed, proving that sixteen more years of experience would keep her on top of the mother/daughter screaming contest.

"TODAY?!?!" Rory responded. Both women shriek-squealed then started talking excitedly about where and what preparations needed to be made.

"Congratulations!" Logan called to Luke over the noise.

"Thanks!" Luke called back.

"You probably need a suit or something, right?"

"Yeah, well, I didn't think I would need formalwear, so…"

"Hey, man, it's cool. I know a place nearby where you can rent one. We can go now, if you'd like."

"Yeah, great! Thanks."

Not noticing the two men were gone, Rory and Lorelai rushed to the computer to look up courthouses or chapels nearby.

As they were looking at the Blue Skies Wedding Chapel, Rory turned to her mother. "Mom?"

"Yeah, hon?"

"Well, if you don't mind my asking, what about…?"

"What about…Bob? What about…me? What about…Grandma?"

"Well, yeah. What about Grandma? I mean, I know you don't get along, but she is your mother, and she would really love to be there."

"I know, kid, but right now, this may be the only way I can marry Luke."

"Mom! What are you talking about? You guys would get married otherwise!"

"I know…I think I know, anyways. It's just, we postponed the wedding. Indefinitely. What if we just decide it's too much? What if we break up and it's all awkward and there's no more Luke's?"

"So…you're worried there won't be any more Luke's if you don't get married today."

"Yes. At the…Blue Skies Wedding Chapel. They have an opening, look!"

"In an hour!"

"So?"

"How do you plan on doing this in an hour?"

"I…don't. I don't know what I'm thinking. We can't get married here, not now! It doesn't work that way."

"And Luke will understand," Rory assured Lorelai.

"Yeah, Luke will understand," Lorelai repeated unconvincingly.

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Meanwhile, at the tuxedo rental shop, Luke was having a similar panic attack.

"Hey, man, what size are you?" Logan asked casually.

"Why am I doing this? What makes anyone think I can do this? Just get married at the drop of a hat?"

"Um…" Logan was not ready for a grown man to be freaking out like this. "Um… you love her and want to spend the rest of your life with her and don't want to wait indefinitely to do so?"

"But there's the thing. If it's the rest of my life, why do it now? It's the REST of my LIFE. So waiting a little bit to spend the REST of my LIFE with her isn't going to make that much difference because I'll be waiting WITH HER."

"You're right," Logan said, not really wanting to be hurt by the scary man. "So…what are we doing here? Let's go tell her that you don't feel up to this."

"But…she'll be upset."

"Hey, man, she let you postpone the wedding once. She'll probably be okay with you doing it again."

"You're right. I think," Luke sighed. "Okay, let's go back to the house and I'll tell Lorelai." Logan smiled and nodded his head toward his car.

"Okay, then. Let's go."

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**So....Reviews? Like it? Hate it? I know it's a bit OOC, but I tried to keep it as much in character as I could. I even got a mini-Luke rant. So, review. Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, what you thought. XXXs OOOS ~Drama Queen**

**PS Points to whomever finds the _That 70s Show _reference! It's veiled.**


	2. Chapter 2

**YIKES! Sorry it took FOREVER to update. I've been BUSY. I also had a little friend called Writer's Block come stay in my head. So... for the record, I LOVE JavaJunkie. And...in this particular story, since they are married, yucky Christopher can't swoop in and take her to France for their yucky elopement. Also, because I can't neglect Rory, I'm trying to decide whether this story will include Lit or Sophie. I can NEVER decide, but I'm leaning towards Sophie, because I love me some Matt Czuchry. So...this story will probably carry through the end of S07 (hopefully) and maybe more. PS the That 70s Show reference in chapter 1 was when Lorelai says that Veteran's Day is the most romantic day of the year. Jackie calls Veteran's Day the most romantic day of the year in an episode that I can't remember at this point.**

**If I owned Gilmore Girls, it would still be on. If I owned Martha's Vineyard, I'd be rich. Without further adieu:**

So…a quick reminder of what's happening:

~Lorelai and Luke decide to get married on Valentine's weekend—at Martha's Vineyard!

~Rory talked Lorelai through a back-out panic attack, while Logan somehow managed to calm Luke down in his backing-out freak-out,

~And now…

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As Logan and Luke made the journey back to the Huntzberger's Vineyard house, Rory and Lorelai moved to the spacious couch, coffee in hand. Chatting quietly, the two women looked like a Hallmark card. Rory leaned forward slightly and asked, "Are you upset that you're calling off the last-minute elopement?"

Lorelai stared straight ahead for a moment before answering, "You know, I think it's a good thing."

Rory waited for more. When that was all that came from the loquacious older woman, she prompted, "But…"

"But…I want to marry him, and I think this may be the only way."

"So tell him that."

"Ah, my young, innocent, naïve daughter. If only it was that simple."

"Mom. Stop. It IS that simple."

"Did you see the menfolk during our careful perusal of the house?"

"Okay, no, but don't try to—"

"They are out getting a tux. That is short for TUXEDO. Which people wear to WEDDINGS. Specifically, THEIR weddings."

"Maybe they went to get breakfast?"

"We…already had breakfast."

"Brunch. I meant brunch."

"Rory, honey, I can't back out. He'll worry."

"How do you know that?"

"Because he's Luke, honey."

Suddenly, in what seemed like several worlds away, a door opened. Footsteps were heard, men's voices carried. As Logan and Luke made their way to the living room, Lorelai wiped a stray tear that had escaped when she had thought of her floundering relationship. As her hand fell, Rory caught it and squeezed gently, then rose from the couch and left the room, taking Logan with her.

Luke fell onto Rory's recently evacuated couch spot. He looked straight ahead for a split second, then turned to Lorelai.

"We can't-," he began cautiously.

"Luke, I-," Lorelai said at the same time. Both laughed sheepishly before pausing, waiting for the other to say something more. Luke nodded to Lorelai.

"Luke, I know I said I wanted to get married, and I know I was excited, but… I just can't do it. Not here, not like this. I want—no, I NEED a real wedding. And, if that means I have to wait until you've settled things with April, then," she took a deep breath," I can wait."

Luke sat in stunned silence for a moment. Finally, Lorelai got worried and asked, "Luke? Do you…have any thoughts?"

He nodded and inhaled slowly. "Yeah, um, Lorelai, I was going to tell you that we can't elope here and now. But that we can't keep up this postponed wedding." Lorelai gasped slightly and her hand flew to her chest.

"What…what do you mean?"

Luke finally saw Lorelai instead of just looking at her. He saw how worried she was, and rushed to reassure her. "I mean…well, listen. You want June third?" Lorelai nodded ever so slightly. "Then you're getting June third. I'll help you call, see if you can un-cancel the plans you made. Is that a word? Un-cancel? Well, I'll still help you. We're getting married on June third, even if we have to re-make all the plans."

Lorelai stared at her fiancé in awe. "You…you…I thought we needed to postpone because this thing with April was…and…but you…"

"Yeah," Luke grunted, cutting her off. "Well, I mean, it's not that hard. She's my kid. She's my daughter, and she's twelve years old, and she's MY KID."

"But…are you sure you don't need some…time…to get used to it? I thought you needed time?"

"Lorelai, I thought you wanted this wedding."

"I do. Believe me, Luke, I do want this wedding. I just want to make sure you're not making a rushed decision you'll regret."

"No regrets."

"But you don't KNOW that," Lorelai countered. "You don't KNOW you won't regret it."

"I won't. Lorelai, we're getting married. We're getting married on June third, because you found the perfect dress and it was a sign, and the nit started snowing, which was also a sign."

"But the snow may not be a sign. It's just snow."

"Lorelai. Do you want the wedding that you planned with Sookie?"

"Yes."

"Then you're getting that wedding."

"Okay," she said, like a little girl.

"Okay," he agreed before reaching out and grabbing her arm. Gently pulling her toward him, he kissed her sweetly before a loud bang startled them apart.

**I tried SO hard to keep them in character, but I really want Lorelai to have her perfect wedding on June 3rd. Reviews are much appreciated unless they're hassling me to write more because I struggle with deadlines. XXXXXs OOOOOs, Drama Queen**


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